Finally got a smooth spine hinge after 3 tries with a bone folder trick

I've been bookbinding for about a year now, mostly doing rebinds of old paperbacks. My biggest issue was always getting a clean, sharp hinge on the spine so the cover opens flat without cracking. Last week I was watching a video from a binder in Portland and they mentioned running the bone folder along the hinge line at a slight angle instead of straight down. I tried it on a junk book first and the difference was night and day. The paper didn't tear or bunch up and the crease was super crisp. Now I'm going back to redo three books I messed up before. Has anyone else found a weird little angle trick that changed how they fold something?

1 comments

1 Comment

aaron_gonzalez1mo ago

Nah, straight down works fine if you just use enough pressure lol.